‘When we decided to build some experiential marketing around the our edible insects editorial, we asked a gelato expert to come up with four flavours for testing.’
Photograph: Alamy

Experiential marketing builds on traditional promotional campaigns in an age of immersive theatre and pop-up retail. Defined by Creative Guerilla marketing, it is, “a form of advertising that focuses primarily on helping consumers experience a brand... [immersing] the consumers within the product by engaging as many other human senses as possible.”

Promotional advertising has served the media industry well but now we can integrate it with our digital and real-world marketing, content, social media andPR.

When we decided to build some experiential marketing around our edible insects editorial, we asked a gelato expert to come up with four flavours for testing.

Smartphone readers in the local vicinity were targeted based on their location, via SMS messages, and made aware of the opportunity to sample the products. A street vendor and promotional team were sent out to engage with the public.

Marketing risks becoming mechanistic without imaginative ideas to animate it

Read more

It’s important in experiential marketing to create a window in which to pitch to the customer, so something like making an ice-cream or a coffee is the perfect equivalent of an elevator pitch; a key minute to talk about the experience and ultimately the product. “Was the gelato real?” they might ask, to which the promotional team would reply “Would you like to read the related article?”, handing them an iPad. These experiences work best when the customer is encouraged to actively join the mental dots, and in that gratification their brand interest begins. The Economist gained 10,000 subscriptions from this promotion.

Experiential marketing builds on promotional marketing and sampling heritage, so people are already familiar with the set up. You are given the article to read, and asked if you’d like a photo of sampling the product, which is then shared on Instagram, and sent to an email address, building the brand presence on social media, and the customer database.

Facebook also proved that experiential marketing can be used by digital brands to create a physical product. During the recent UK general election, users were encouraged to share their vote on social media and the information was converted into an ever-changing pie chart infographic which was transferred onto the London Eye. The company said: “Politics is huge on Facebook – we expect it to be the most discussed topic in the UK this year... we’re excited to be able to bring this conversational election to life.”

The future focus is on beacons; radio transmitters on trikes that will pull up information onto your phone when you are close to them. It’s also being able to Shazam an image for information; speedier and less complicated than current QR barcodes. We are increasingly using hyperlocal targeting – customers who travel from Connecticut to Manhattan receive specified advertising as they approach the city, and this will be rolled out in more areas. But, ultimately, it’s about taking 4D sensory immersion to its limits with virtual and augmented reality that puts consumers in the centre of the story.